Through three editions over more than four decades, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics has built an unrivaled reputation as the most comprehensive and authoritative reference for students, scholars, and poets on all aspects of its subject: history, movements, genres, prosody, rhetorical devices, critical terms, and more. Now this landmark work has been thoroughly revised and updated for the twenty-first century. Compiled by an entirely new team of editors, the fourth edition—the first new edition in almost twenty years—reflects recent changes in literary and cultural studies, providing up-to-date coverage and giving greater attention to the international aspects of poetry, all while preserving the best of the previous volumes.

At well over a million words and more than 1,000 entries, the Encyclopedia has unparalleled breadth and depth. Entries range in length from brief paragraphs to major essays of 15,000 words, offering a more thorough treatment—including expert synthesis and indispensable bibliographies—than conventional handbooks or dictionaries.

This is a book that no reader or writer of poetry will want to be without.


Thoroughly revised and updated by a new editorial team for twenty-first-century students, scholars, and poets

More than 250 new entries cover recent terms, movements, and related topics

Broader international coverage includes articles on the poetries of more than 110 nations, regions, and languages

Expanded coverage of poetries of the non-Western and developing worlds

Updated bibliographies and cross-references

New, easier-to-use page design

Fully indexed for the first time